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Saturday, February 27, 2010

It's the little things.

I seem to be finding a lot of little things to be annoyed with in Mass Effect 2. This is actually a good condition for me: so much works so well and I am enjoying all of it, so I can't help but focus on tiny issues that a less cynical person would either never notice or just not care about. For example, yesterday I talked about how Mass Effect 2, by design, works well in small spurts. Marathon sessions, however, tend to feel a bit choppy because of the short missions. It is difficult to see the over arching narrative after playing for four plus hours when each individual mission lasts around fifteen to twenty minutes. It almost feels like I am watching a serialized show all at once; each mission has a beginning, middle and end independent of the anything around it. Again, this is most likely intentional. People who will spend four hours straight playing, moving only to go to the bathroom or retrieve libations, are in the minority. Besides, there are plenty of JRPG's that are overly long and preachy, this quick hitting formula is a nice change of pace.

Deadly Premonition has been on my list for quite a while, but IGN's arbitrary review number of '2' has me wanting to run out and buy it. (quick note: why does this guy have a job writing snarky reviews and I don't?) I am more than willing to pay $20 for a box of terribleness, as long as it is so terrible that it wraps right back around to awesome. Actual people who have played it describe it as a throw back to second tier Dreamcast survival horror (Blue Stinger!), and that does not make me want it any less. The Dreamcast days prior to the release of the PS2 were the glory days of my platform partisanship. I have since moved on to a more platform agnostic approach, but the nostalgia for a terrible controller and awful voice acting are strong. Plus, what big, good games are coming to take up my time?

Oh yeah, God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII. Damn you Sony, I hope my PS3 still works after several months of collecting dust.

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This blog, in its present form, is a way to force me to not game away all my free time every day in the only way I know how: talk about it instead. Also, I play a lot of crap; read about it here so you don't have to. And if the complaining starts to get out of hand, leave anonymous, hateful comments.